Assignment:
For each of the following studies, consider whether or not you think the research is ethical, how the research may have violated principles of ethical behavior, and what, if any, alternative research methods for testing the research hypothesis might have been used:
a. College students were asked to volunteer for an experiment involving betting behavior. Then they were told that they could choose either to receive $3.00 for their participation or they could gamble for the possibility of earning more money. After the experiment was conducted, participants were told that the experimenters did not actually have any money to pay them, but that the deception had been necessary in order to obtain their participation in the research.
b. A study was done in a small company in which most of the employees knew each other. Detailed reports of the interactions of the workers were published in a book. Although some attempt was made to disguise the names of the individuals, any employee who read the book could identify who was being referred to.
c. A researcher was studying initial interactions between people. While two students were supposedly waiting for an experiment to begin, the researcher covertly videotaped their actions and conversation. The researcher then told them about the research and gave them the opportunity to have the tape erased.
d. A researcher worked for a time on the production line of a large manufacturing plant. His status as a researcher was unknown to his co-workers. It was not until he was about to leave that he revealed his purpose and identity to the workers.
e. Students who were interested in attending medical school participated in a study where the researcher gave them false negative feedback about their scores on the Medical College Admission Tests (MCAT). The students were presented with "sample" MCAT questions that did not have any correct answers. Consequently, the students performed very poorly on the exam, and the researchers studied their anxiety and how they coped with failure.
f. To study what types of people are most likely to give money to a stranger, people on city streets were asked for money by an individual who said he had just lost his wallet. No one was ever told that he or she was part of a research project.
g. To study the effects of alcohol on decision making, a graduate student interviewed college students after they had left a campus bar. With a portable breathalyzer, he registered their blood alcohol content. Although some of them were found to be intoxicated beyond the legal state limits, and although many of them were going to be driving home, he did not inform them of their blood alcohol levels.
h. A psychologist teaching a large lecture class conducted an experiment in which the letter grades assigned the students in different sections of the course were deliberately raised or lowered so that the same score on an examination might be an "A" in one section and a "C" in another section. The purpose of the experiment was to determine the effect of this feedback on achievement on the final examination.